“Up, Down, Charm, Strange, Top, Bottom” reviewed by Le Son Du Grisli

Les Portugais Miguel Carvalhais et Pedro Tudela, ou @c, travaillent à une musique électroacoustique en passe de perdre son acoustique mais convaincante quand même.

Sur Up, Down, Charm, Strange, Top, Bottom, trouver quelques combinaisons malignes : de field recordings européens et de reverses velléitaires, de souffles effacés par le mouvement soudain d’un archet sur violoncelle, et de digressions électroniques qui refusent la fadeur généralement partagée par les défenseurs d’ambient nébuleuse.

Ailleurs, retravaillés, une guitare, un saxophone et quelques percussions, et le fruit étrange du travail minutieux d’un réducteur de voix, parachèvent la performance.

“Musicamorosa” reviewed by Textura

Can one possibly distill the poetic depths and labyrinthine sentences of Marcel Proust’s Á la recherche du temps perdu (published in English as Remembrance of Things Past and, in recent translations, In Search of Lost Time) into musical form, and capture the bittersweet ennui that suffuses the epic’s three thousand pages? Should one incorporate actual words from the text? Sonically mimic the memory evocation released by the petit madelaine? Daunting challenges of this type are confronted by Jorge Mantas (aka The Beautiful Schizophonic) in his Proust homage Musicamorosa. Mantas was inspired, not only by Proust’s magnificent prose, but by the image of the writer labouring over his monumental masterwork, famously composed (in part) when the writer retreated to a cork-lined room in a Paris apartment in order to devote himself entirely to the book’s completion. In essence, Mantas finds parallels between the lonely and melancholic Proust and the modern-day laptop composer in that both are dreamers coaxing imaginary worlds born from memory into being.

Mantas wisely uses the drone, often in crystalline form, as an analogue for evocation. The sinuous flowing lines in “Un étourdissant réveil en musique,” for example, convincingly suggest the imaginative surrender Proust’s narrator experiences during his full-blown resurrection of the Combray universe. The musical treatment is delicate and, most critically for honouring Proust’s sensibility, elegiac. At times the drone is ethereal (e.g., “L’amour, c’est l’espace et le temps rendus sensibles au coeur”) and sometimes beautifully so, as the lustrous entrancement of “Cantiques à la gloire du soleil” so strongly demonstrates; at other times it includes naturalistic elements which give it an earth-bound character (e.g., water sounds in “Zéphir marin, féerique comme un clair de lune” and “Les oiseaux qui dorment en l’air”). Further contrast is introduced in “On se souvient d’une atmosphère parce que des jeunes filles y ont souri” by shifting the spotlight to José Luís Merca’s delicate electric guitar strums and in “La lectrice” by having Colleen (Cécile Schott) actually read Proust’s text. Interestingly, like Schott on her Colleen et les boîtes à musique release, Mantas exploits the associative potential of the music box in “Un jardin encore silencieux avant le lever du jour” in a way that suggests the re-awakening of childhood memory and the inner rapture that follows upon it. The album’s sole failing arrives at album’s end in the remix of “Soixante-quatre” by @c which lacks the restraint and conceptual cohesiveness that characterizes the other material. Without it, Musicamorosa would be a more perfectly-realized fifty-two-minute recording. Ultimately, it must be conceded that the magnificence of Á la recherche du temps perdu invariably defeats even the noblest composer’s attempt to render it in sonic terms. But it must also be conceded too that, at the very least, Mantas’s noble attempt proposes a legitimate “solution” on conceptual grounds.

“Musicamorosa” reviewed by Touching Extremes

Influenced by a lot of names “to be found outside the music field”, which include Proust, Poe, Alighieri, Friedrich, Waterhouse and so on, up to director Sofia Coppola and erotic photographers Guido Argentini and Roy Stuart, Portuguese Jorge Mantas wants us to call him a “sound designer”, not a “composer”. He also hates those who don’t express emotion through their work, and concludes that there’s nothing more uninspiring than an “untitled” piece (a WBA/WBC title unification match with Francisco López looms after this declaration, one surmises). That’s why the large part of the titles in this CD are taken from Marcel Proust. But what’s all the more important is that in its non-revolution – because this is purely and simply laptop-conceived, loop-based music – “Musicamorosa” contains the best things I’ve heard from the artist in question. A touch of romanticism, a good choice of intoxicating spirals of orchestral samples and circular chords and, voila, almost 70 minutes flow away with few annoyances (next to none, I’d say) and several truly arresting moments, at times whispering Basinskian languages, often only showing different schemes for the utilization of common ingredients. Luscious, abstract, caressing; those are the most useful adjectives here, partially negated by the long final track “Soixtante-quatre” which tends to a blacker kind of electronic mystery.

“Filare” reviewed by EarLabs

In talking about Filare, Jan Ferreira (Mosaique) wrote: “I attempted to produce sustained music which at the same time would contain movement and harmonic richness.” As I listen, it’s clear that he reached his goal.

He goes on to say: “It was intended to create a sound that would have depth on several layers, emotionally as well as acoustically, without wanting to emphasize any of them in an exaggerated manner.” As you can readily tell, Jan Ferreira is very thoughtful and passionate regarding his own musical work. Concerning contemporary avant-garde music in general he says: “It seems to me that a great part of the beauty of modern electronic/electroacoustic music lies in its balance between technical finesse/complexity and the emotional nuances/subtleties that can thereby be achieved.” Filare is one realization of this idea emerging from the vast space of sonic possibilities and is the second release in Crónica’s Unlimited Release Series whose am is to develop new means of distributing various digital media, in this case music, with artwork files and information PDF included.

A native of Lisbon and currently residing in Copenhagen , Mosaique used recordings of real instruments including strings, organ, sitar, bouzouki, and harmonium in various settings along with classical music extracts to compose the eight works found on Filare . A recursive method was used in which the processed results of one recording became the starting point of the next recording.

Recursive, harmonically rich, sustained, containing movement, and multiple aural layers, are all words/phrases that describe the underlying sound/technical dynamics of Filare while adjectives such as graceful, intricate, delicate, and affecting all convey its essential sensory nuances. Static is not word that applies to any of the compositions. Beautiful, flowing tones and microtones of varying frequencies are in a constant state of flux – rising, falling, conjoining, conflicting, dissolving, and sometimes canceling each other out. Puzzling track names like Sophil, Vitral, Aidon, Dichron provide a layer of mystery.

Mosaique’s Filare is another outstanding instance of contemporary electroacoustic music from an artist who desires to articulate his methods, techniques, and musical philosophy and from a label eager to share these beautiful sounds. Not to be missed.

“Täuschung” reviewed by Bodyspace

Coisas há que passam melhor sem serem detalhadamente explicadas. Ou seja, tudo o que daqui em diante se acrescentar acerca de Täuschung não só atraiçoa o potencial do seu factor armadilha-surpresa, como humedece a pólvora acumulada num barril cujo conteúdo corrosivo e cacofónico faz com que todo o glitch associado aos piores pesadelos passe agora a ser canção de embalar para atrair os mais rosados sonhos. A Crónica, que lança o disco como afronta para superar anteriores afrontas, aclama no press-release que, no fundo, Täuschung tem a música pop como coração. Sim, quando a água for uma comodidade negociada a um preço superior ao do petróleo, Mariah Carey terá de ensaiar outras manobras de marketing para superar nas tabelas de venda o austríaco Davor Mikan.

Por agora, Davor Mikan pode gabar-se de um disco que enxovalha os sons como se estes tivessem sujeitos aos efeitos de um colapso nervoso, que torna mais diabólicos os seus parágrafos narrativos ao desrespeitar uma noção vulgar de integridade (desconhece-se o paradeiro do “início” e “fim” à maioria das composições), que fomenta sensações de torpor (ruído ilimitado) inversas às mais aveludadas que se conhecem a Musicamorosa de Beautiful Schizophonic, também na Crónica. Visualmente, é como se dos escombros destes sons estilhaçados e pequenos contos atrofiados emergisse um braço de aparência híbrida – entre o humano e o robótico, mas por toda à parte semelhante ao que poderia sair de um ecrã de televisão a transmitir o canal Videodrome (tal como conhecido ao filme do mesmo nome assinado por Cronenberg).

Se a pop anda realmente por aqui, aproveite-se o lamento que 50 Cent e Justin Timberlake cantam em “AYO Technology” como sinal da carência que sentem por não terem as suas damas – em “carne e osso” – sentadas ao colo, em vez de apenas presentes na virtualidade de um ecrã de telemóvel. Porque não dar o melhor uso à tecnologia e contacto físico? Täuschung gere quase fisicamente sons xistosos com o auxilio paralelo de programas digitais que Davor utiliza normalmente para desenho gráfico. Devora todo o juízo que lhe é dedicado e arrota o agrado desse repasto trinta e uma vezes, sem direito a resposta.

Miguel Arsénio

“Up, Down, Charm, Strange, Top, Bottom” reviewed by Jazz e Arredores

Up, Down, Charm, Strange, Top, Bottom, disco recente do duo portuense @C (Miguel Carvalhais e Pedro Tudela) regista uma experiência criativa que lida com a microtonalidade e a criação de sons digitais e/ou digitalizados produzidos em ambiente laptopiano, tanto em circuito fechado como em espaço amplo e aberto ao longo de um período de cinco anos. Nesta nova edição da Crónica Electrónica, o duo aplica com saber e efeito um vasto conjunto de técnicas de estúdio no tratamento de material sonoro produzido e captado em actuações ao vivo em trabalho de campo, via recolha de sons ambientais. Partículas que se organizam para produzir/reproduzir propostas consequentes no domínio da arte sonora. Em Up, Down, Charm, Strange, Top, Bottom não se chegam a formar linhas contínuas de sinal, tantas são as alterações no fluxo narrativo, que já não o é, antes se afirma como o resultado de um conjunto ordenado de eventos em cadeia que se condicionam uns aos outros e formam novas sinergias. Recusando a passividade do paisagismo descritivista e contemplativo, a música do duo @C prefere interpelar-nos, ao exigir um compromisso da parte do ouvinte no sentido de, através da atenção concentrada, criar o magma mental que acabará por ligar os incontáveis fragmentos que compõem os quatro puzzles sonoros (62; 71; 72 e 61) em constante movimento. Em tudo se nota uma preocupação (conseguida) de integrar vestígios do mundo orgânico (voz humana, percussão, saxofone, violoncelo, ladrar de cães, tráfego, sons nocturnos e aquáticos) num tecido digital cativante na sua sóbria beleza formal e na solidez fragmentária das esculturas que a dupla nos propõe e que parecem assumir-se simultaneamente como síntese e projecção futura das diferentes abordagens que têm dado a conhecer ao longo da sua actividade artística, de que se conhecem já sete saídas, três delas na editora por ambos fundada e dirigida.

“Up, Down, Charm, Strange, Top, Bottom” reviewed by Vital

Miguel Carvalhais and Pedro Tudela are @C, armed with their laptops they play mostly improvised music. However, important, they don’t release improvised music. How is this possible. Their improvisations are restricted for playing together, in a concert like situation, with or without audience. All of the resulting recordings are taken into the studio and used as building blocks for their music. On this, their seventh release, they use recordings from concerts, studio work and field recordings which they recorded over a period of five years and deals mainly with the improvisations they did with others. Sometimes the ‘other’ was present while everything was played, sometimes the ‘other’ arrives through the form of a sample. They remove all the ‘unwanted’ bits of improvisations and use only that which hold the test, and these are used in these four constructions. They are vibrant, lively pieces of musique concrete, sometimes not unlike releases on Empreintes Dgitales, but with a more anarchistic, free approach. The software used is not the what it is about, but it’s result, which, as @C say, ‘becomes itself, and will become music each time it is played, to everyone and everywhere it is so’. Which I believe is very much true. There is so much happening on every level of this disc, that it requires a few rounds of listening until everything is uncovered and then the ‘real’ thing starts again: finding the overall picture again. It’s a full CD, but one that has a lot to give. Great work. (FdW)

“Up, Down, Charm, Strange, Top, Bottom” reviewed by Boomkat

Although by no means one of the more prominent acts currently operating in the microsound field, @C have consistently made valuable contributions to the genre, publishing work through labels like Sirr, Room40, Grain Of Sound and of course, Crónica. For this album, the duo render vivid acousmatic soundscapes from a variety of recordings: room sounds, voices, running water and even a stray cello make up this electroacoustic banquet, and it’s all structured in a highly unconventional fashion. The album is bookended by the two most substantial pieces, the first lasting twenty minutes, the last more than double that duration. Through these two lengthy works you’ll bear witness to a vast and evocative auditory environment, coloured by intimately recorded details and enigmatic clouds of drone wafting past. Importantly, you”ll find two incredibly brief miniatures wedged between these, proving that @C aren”t all about the long haul. These two compositions reveal an incredibly vivid, intensely tactile sound world and break up the other more expansive, pensive pieces. In their own way these 90-second interludes are they key works here, painting rich sonic portraits of some imaginary location. Highly recommended.

“Musicamorosa” reviewed by Sands-zine

Questa, per quanto ne so, è la prima vera uscita di Jorge Mantas, e l’autore tiene fede alla sua ragione sociale con un disco assolutamente schizofrenico, non tanto perché contiene atmosfere sonore particolarmente schizzate, tutt’altro, quanto perché potrebbe essere benissimo attribuibile a due o tre autori diversi. Le prime 4 piste dispensano una musica rilassata e completamente aritmica, se pure non rarefatta e comunque condotta a volume sostenuto, oltreché venata da una malcelata vena romantica. Les oiseaux qui dorment en l’air, con il suo look rumorista concreto condotto su più bassi volumi, rappresenta un primo stacco netto dal modello iniziale. On se souvient… è un bozzetto minimale che ripropone la vena romantica ma, viceversa dalle prime piste, è condotto in modo più raccolto e potrebbe essere stato suonato benissimo da un duo pianoforte-violino. La lectrice rappresenta un altro taglio netto, e infatti vi si sente solo la voce di Cécile Schott (aka Colleen) che legge un testo di Proust (e proprio Proust sembra essere una delle massime ispirazioni dell’autore). L’amour… torna alla ambientazioni iniziali, se pure con atmosfere più cupe, e Dans la chambre magique d’une sibylle rompe completamente ogni logica precedente basandosi sul trattamento digitale della chitarra arpeggiata da Tobias Strahl. Dopo due piste che riprendono il mood dominante, Un jardin encore silenceux avant le lever du jour chiude sullo stesso tema, ma presenta come variazione iniziale un sottofondo di carillon. Anzi, non chiude, ché c’è spazio per una tredicesima pista nella quale i portoghesi @C frantumano e ricompattano la musica del ‘bello schizofonico’, nell’arco di oltre una dozzina di minuti, in un’operazione riorganizzativa davvero eccellente. “Musicamorosa” è sicuramente un bel disco ed è anche piacevole da ascoltare, come è stato osservato da più parti, però si macchia di una pur unica colpa: passa e va… senza lasciare traccia. Boh!!!, ma consigliarne l’acquisto mi parrebbe comunque esagerato.